The Flow State

Everyone approached me at the same time, all at the same speeds. There was a plate, two forks, and a knife within my reach. But the girl across me would connect her attack before I could reach for anything to defend myself with first. According to distance, she would also be the first to make contact with me before any other threat in the room.

My first target.

As I turned to defend myself from her, I was surprised to find that she was already on the floor, impaled in the neck. I'd just pulled my knife out of her throat before throwing her onto the ground.

I have a knife?

I began to grasp that my actions were being executed before I could even register that they were happening. 

Ah, I see.

I understood it now. It was happening again. I'd found myself in a fight-or-flight scenario, brought on by unprecedented danger and assertive emotions. That same condition was met following Kyra's death, therefore I was in the same state I'd found myself in the moment before killing Darius. A state of absolute calm, where everything moved according to my whim. A state where reality harmonized with my flow. 

The Flow State.

As I came to these realizations, five more bodies had already dropped to my feet. My body was moving on its own in the most natural and comfortable way. The actions I asserted had an abundance of time to execute. The extra 'mind-space' that came with my awakening opened up a plethora of room for me to think, communicate, and process within my body. I was analyzing while simultaneously moving according to my conclusions, and as a result, I was keeping myself afloat among 21 threats pouncing onto me all at once.

15 left.

Six bodies had already dropped to my hands. I realized I now had a knife in the other hand. I was dual-wielding like the Man in Black. Two proxies suddenly lunged towards me from opposite directions. As I watched them fall towards me in slow-motion, I raised my arms, gripped the knife handles tightly, and slashed the both of them consecutively. They fell onto their backs, splattering with blood among the other bodies I'd already piled. In the corner of my eye, I noticed someone approaching quickly along the floor, staying low on the ground like a snake trying to bite my foot. She'd tackle my knees before I could bend down and reach her with my knife, so I opted for the next plausible option: the heavy round table at my waist. I knocked it down, with the surface side facing her, and kicked it forwards with full strength from my legs.

Slam—!!!

The impact was hard against her head. With her eyes rolled-up, and with the blood leaking down from her head, I knew she didn't survive it.

12 left.

I threw my knives to my left and my right, impaling the faces of two proxies that tried to catch me off guard.

10 left.

From the table I'd kicked earlier, I'd knocked down an additional proxy onto the ground who currently tried to pull himself out from under the girl I'd already killed. I made sure he had no escape. I lunged forwards and stomped his head in, before stabbing a fork into the neck of another proxy who wrapped himself around my shoulders.

8 left.

When I recollected my thoughts, I noticed I'd retreated myself to behind the barista counter, where I had a plate in one hand and a hot kettle in the other. The first victim to approach me got their face shattered with the plate, bringing about a multitude of bleeding scratches. I followed-up with a generous pour from the steaming-hot kettle, imbuing freshly-brewed coffee into the open wounds of the proxy.

"Aghh—!!!" He screamed in agony, tumbling into other proxies who tried dashing my way. As they all stumbled from the break in momentum, I took advantage of the moment and approached with a newly acquired kitchen knife in-hand. I aimed for the jugular notches of every person within my sight.

3 left.

By the windowsill, I grabbed a heavy flower pot and smashed it over someone's head. As dirt poured over, blinding their bloody eyes, I struck their neck with my palm and wrapped their throat tightly with my hands. I squeezed as hard as I could, ensuring I could finish choking them out in time before the remaining two reached me with their incoming attacks.

2 left.

One of them was unsteady on the hindfoot. I adjusted my timing according to their steps and took a sweep at their legs once they were close enough. As they dropped onto their back, winded by the impact of the fall, I grabbed the closest heavy item I could find—an open and functioning panini-press on the counter—and plummeted my weight onto their face using the open grill side.

Tsss—!

I could only hear the muffled screams of the proxy being cooked under the immense heat that currently grilled their face. The smell of burning flesh was one to behold.

1 left.

The final one approached me with the same speed as everyone else, as expected while everyone was being controlled by the same person. They swung first, but due to my prediction, missed drastically. I swerved into their non-dominant zone, and threw a heavy punch right to the liver. From the facial reaction ensued, I knew I'd landed the shot. He fell to his knees, incapacitated by the pain alone.

No matter the authority you have over them, pain is not something you can control, Ian.

With his head limped forwards, while he clutched his body with pain, I could only look down on the final victim to bare witness to my performance as a Fractless.

Jak—!

I threw my knee up, connecting with his jaw, knocking him out of commission before I threw down a knife onto his forehead, finishing him off for good.

0 left.

The final body dropped, and once again, I was left the last one standing among a bloodbath at my feet. Although this time, I was the one responsible.

My Flow State had finished.